Tales of the Squire – Check Out My Gorgon

I realize Dark Ascension comes out next week, but none of the other DKA cards strike me as worthy to write about in an article. Now that I actually have my own Commander deck, I want to go back a couple weeks and talk about Commander. Last time I just talked about playing against the Horde Deck and I used Ryan McKinney’s Olivia Valdaren deck to fight off zombies. Well now I have my own deck so I actually want to share it. I have only been playing this list for about two weeks so every card may not be the top Commander card it should be. So here is the list

First off I am going to say that I do not want The Mimeoplasm as my general because the card is just really good and good generals can get you killed quickly without actually doing anything. Damia does exactly what I want her to do, provide me with the colors I want, be a Gorgon, and draw me cards if needed. The deck basically tries to control the opponents from doing anything too crazy and then drop big ole fatties and beat down. I don’t ever really plan to win with general damage unless me opponent just has nothing for 6 turns or Damia is guaranteed to get a hit with the sword attached to her. There are obviously some “cute” combos in the deck and cards which people might question. I never played Dark Depths when it was legal, so why not do it now? A Tooth and Nail can grab me Primeval Titan and Vampire Hexmage to “combo” off right there. Into the Roil is a card that is just something I quite enjoy. It is one of those catch all spells plus you can draw a card.

I took this Damia list to a Commander night and got placed in a three man pod with my friend Jason and a gentleman known as Poptart. Jason was sort of mana screwed and Poptart didn’t really do a whole lot. I landed a Consecrated Sphinx early and protected it into massive card advantage. I eventually added a Geth, Rune-scarred Demon, Sheoldred, and Vorinclex to the party and abused Geth by using Jason’s graveyard to get back Snapcaster for my counters and Phyrexian Metamorph to copy my Rune-Scarred Demon for full value. Poptart helped me out by playing Call to the Grave which let me sac Jason’s creatures and use them again. Eventually they were both at 22 and I just swung out to take them both down. I actually played well this game and thought out my plays instead of that horrific incident with the Olivia deck.

We podded up again and I had Poptart again and some Tom guy. Tom’s deck was BG but he never really hit green mana. I managed to Tooth and Nail and was a total dick, grabbing Sheoldred and Jin-Giataxias. I figured packs were on the line so I would play to the best of the deck and my ability and hopefully they wouldn’t hate me. They probably both do, but those are the breaks. I play casual Commander a lot different while piloting this deck. I try to grab Marit Lage tokens and copy their creatures and just have fun. With my limited experience in Commander I haven’t had to face anyone running infinite combos. I know I don’t want to run those in my deck, even if packs are on the line. This is one of the main reasons I avoided Commander for as long as I could. Some people play super casual, while others want to crush your face every time and basically goldfish their decks, and I think a balance needs to be found for people. If I sit down with you and it’s supposed to be a fun game and you go infinite, I’ll just pick up my deck and walk off. I know some people won’t even allow the Praetor cycle because they are just too cruel. Just like Magic always has been, people play at different levels and like different things. I love Japanese cards, but could care less about foils in my actual deck. I have no problem foiling out my cube, but my legacy deck I want Japanese and unsigned. I won’t go into a rant about signed cards and Rob Alexander.

I hope you guys enjoy my list and if you have any suggestions or questions let me know. I still don’t know all the good cards and would love to learn knew ones. May your Dark Ascension pre-releasing be fun.